Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S5W-12919

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of payment times in publicly funded subcontract chains.

The Scottish Government does not hold details of every contract awarded by every public body in Scotland. We have taken a range of measures, however, to support prompt payment in public sector supply chains. In 2009, we introduced a standard clause into our contracts which requires valid invoices to be paid within 30 days of receipt at all stages of both the prime contract and sub-contract chain. We encourage other public bodies to adopt a similar clause.

We published guidance on the use of Project Bank Accounts (PBAs) in construction contracts in September 2016. PBAs ensure that payments for supply chain firms in both tiers immediately below the main contractor are made promptly and protected from upstream insolvency. Scottish Government bodies must include a PBA in tenders with an estimated value of at least £4.1m for building projects, or £10m for civil engineering projects. We encourage other public bodies to also use PBAs.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires public bodies to set out in their procurement strategy how they intend to ensure that payments down the sub-contract chain are made within 30 days of a valid invoice being presented. Such bodies must also report annually against their procurement strategy, including how they have complied with their prompt payment policy. These reports will be published by the individual public bodies and will form the basis for an annual report on procurement activity in Scotland to be prepared by Scottish Ministers. Financial year 2017-18 will be the first full year subject to annual procurement reports under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.

Question reference: S5W-12915

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of suppliers to each (a) of its departments, (b) of its agencies and (c) non-departmental public body are signatories to the Prompt Payment Code.

The Scottish Government does not hold centrally records of suppliers to its Directorates, Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies that are signatories to the Prompt Payment Code. It is a standard condition of Scottish Government contracts, however, that suppliers are paid within 30 days. It is also a standard condition that any sub-contract must contain a clause which requires payment of invoices to sub-contractors within 30 days.

Question reference: S5O-01568

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 6 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many children are in temporary accommodation.

Scottish Government statistics published in July this year state that as at 31 March 2017, there were 6,041 children in temporary accommodation.

I want time spent in temporary accommodation to be as short as possible, with people and families moving on quickly to a permanent, settled home. And I want all temporary accommodation to be of a decent standard. Of those households with children or pregnant women given temporary accommodation, eighty two per cent were in social rented housing so will meet the minimum standards of that sector

We have taken action to introduce a cap of 7 days (from 14 days) for families with children and pregnant women in unsuitable temporary accommodation and tasked the Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group, set up in October, with recommending actions to transform the use of temporary accommodation in Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-12946

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the UK Budget, what the total additional (a) capital and (b) revenue for Scotland is.

The announcements in the Autumn Budget generate total net positive consequentials for the Scottish Government’s fiscal resource (discretionary) budget allocation of £346.64 million from 2017-18 to 2019-20. (This figure includes a gross reduction of £51.7m from ‘efficiency savings’ applied to the Departments of Education and Culture, Media and Sport).

In respect of capital budget, there is an increase in the conventional capital budget of £508.5 million over the years 2017-18 to 2020-21.

There is also an increase in Financial Transactions (loans) consequentials of £1,114.9 million over the years 2017-18 to 2020-21, however those will have to be repaid and cannot be spent on frontline public services.

Question reference: S5W-12944

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what Barnett consequentials arise from the UK Budget, broken down by (a) portfolio and (b) financial year in which the consequentials arise.

The following Barnett consequentials arise from the UK Budget:

Barnett Consequentials	2017-18 £m	2018-19 £m	2019-20 £m	2020-21 £m	Total £m
Resource Budget	8.4	183.3	154.9	-	346.6
Conventional Capital	58.6	68.6	169.3	212.1	508.5
Financial Transactions (FT)	156.3	271.3	332.0	355.3	1,114.9
Total	223.3	523.2	656.2	567.4	1,970.1

Department	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
	£m	£m	£m	£m

Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BEIS)	RDEL	-	1.6	1.6	-
Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BEIS)	CDEL	-	-	-	-
Business Rates (BR)	RDEL	-	9.4	25.5	-
Business Rates (BR)	CDEL	-	-	-	-
Department for Communities (DCLG)	RDEL	-	1.9	8.8
Department for Communities (DCLG)	CDEL	-	22.5	65.1	97.8
Department for Communities (DCLG)	FTs	156.3	271.3	332	355.3
Department for Communities/ Health (DCLG/DH)	CDEL	4.1	-	-	-
Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)	RDEL	-4.3	-3.8	-6.9	-
Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS)	CDEL	-	0.1	0.2	0.2
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)	RDEL	1.2	6.2	7.1	-
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA)	CDEL	-	1.9	3.7	1.8
Department for Transport (DfT)	RDEL	0.1	0.7	-	-
Department for Transport (DfT)	CDEL	5	9.5	31.1	28.3
Department for Health (DH)	RDEL	33	156.6	88.1	-
Department for Health (DH)	CDEL	49.5	34.6	69.2	84
Department for Education (DfE)	RDEL	-21.5	-5.7	4.4	-
Department for Education (DfE)	CDEL	-	-	-	-
Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)	RDEL	-	0.5	0.7	-
Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)	CDEL	-	-	-	-
Local Government (LG)	RDEL	-	15.9	25.6	-

Question reference: S5W-12945

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government when it will announce the allocation of any Barnett consequentials arising from the UK Budget.

Question reference: S5W-12914

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 4 December 2017

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of undisputed invoices to each (a) of its directorates, (b) of its agencies and (c) non-departmental public body was paid within five days in each year since 2011.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information broken down by directorate or agency, nor do we hold this information for non-departmental public bodies. However, we have provided in the following table, combined figures for The Scottish Government and bodies who share its finance system.

Financial Year	Number of undisputed invoices paid within 5 days
2011-12	81.3%
2012-13	79.9%
2013-14	80.3%
2014-15	77.8%
2015-16	79.6%
2016-17	79.6%
2017-18 (April-October)	77.4%

Question reference: S5W-12943

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Answered by Derek Mackay on 28 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government whether the calculation of business rates will be based on RPI or CPI, and what the financial difference is between the two methodologies.

Question reference: S5F-01777

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 27 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 November 2017

To ask the First Minister what discussions the Scottish Government has had with Amazon regarding the Living Wage.

Question reference: S5O-01527

Asked by: Jackie Baillie, MSP for Dumbarton, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2017
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 29 November 2017

To ask the Scottish Government how many orthopaedic patients are waiting longer than the guaranteed waiting time limit of 12 weeks to receive treatment.